Sing for the Lord
What the Utah Valley Children’s Choir Concert Can Teach Us
Rachel Scott, a member of the River Trails 1st Ward shares her experience at the Utah Valley Children’s Choir performance at the Fort Worth Texas Stake Center on July 13, 2022.
The Savior’s message to the world is a message of love, hope and peace. Putting our trust in the Lord and being obedient to what He’s taught us to do is how we feel this peace, especially during times of trial and opposition. We can receive strength from Him as we move forward with faith. Such was the message at the Utah Valley Children’s Choir performance at the Fort Worth Texas Stake Center.
The 2022 tour of the Utah Valley Children’s Concert Choir consisted of visiting Texas, Louisiana and Florida. The choir is comprised of 150 members, ranging in ages from 9 to 18-years-old. In total, 400 children participate in the Utah Valley Children’s choir music education program. Members get in the choir by audition. Some have been singing for well over a decade.
Coupled with a sacred narrative, they sing their testimonies of the Savior and His mission.
Scott’s view of the Utah Valley Children’s Chorus at the Fort Worth Texas Stake Center. Photograph courtesy of Rachel Scott.
You are a Child of God
How can we trust in the Lord? They touched on ways in which we can do this. The first part is to know who you are as a child of God. One of the songs they sang was titled, “Who You Say I Am” written by Reuben Morgan and Ben Fielding. I could feel one young woman in particular, singing in the choir, was moved by some of the lyrics:
“Who the Son sets free oh is free indeed.
I'm a child of God, yes, I am.
In my Father's house,
there's a place for me.
I'm a child of God, yes, I am.”
Such a profound truth can be the source of strength and comfort when going through tough, challenging times and can help us stay on the Savior's path leading to Heavenly Father, knowing we’re children of God.
His Light will Never Extinguish
The next part of the choir’s performance taught about knowing what Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have offered you. One song that stood out to me was titled “Is He Worthy?” written by Chris Tomlin, Andrew Peterson and Ben Shive. Some of the lyrics that stood out to me from this song were:
“Do you feel the world is broken?
Do you feel the shadows deepen?
But do you know that all the dark won’t stop the light from getting through?”
Perhaps we’ve all felt the shadows deepen at one point or another in our lives. Maybe you feel they’re getting deeper and darker still. But what personally gives me comfort is as the song states, “that all the dark won’t stop the light from getting through.”
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, taught:
“However late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made or talents you think you don’t have, or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines.” (General Conference April 2012, “The Laborers in the Vineyard”)
Trust in His Gospel and Have Peace
One of the songs that the choir ended with was from the section that emphasized knowing the truth related to your conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ. When the billows and storms of life tend to overcome us and we feel all hope is lost or we can’t find our way, He’s always beckoning to us: “peace, peace, be still.” It’s only when we trust in Him and rely on His power day by day to guide us, give us strength and comfort us, that we will truly feel the only source of real peace in our lives as He walks with us, even carries us on our journey home.
Rachel Scott, member of the River Trails 1st Ward, is a wife of 18 years to a brilliant and amazing man, a mom of three wonderful children, and works part time at a middle school. She enjoys walking, reading, doing puzzles, and attends the temple during her free time.